BFG LS-550 (New) Power Supply Review

Introduction

LS and MX are sister power supply series from BFG, with models from MX series coming with a modular cabling system, a 120 mm fan and an auxiliary 80 mm fan on the rear, while models from LS series use a 135 mm fan and no modular cabling system or second fan. Initially both series used the same internal design, however this is not entirely true anymore. All models from MX series are manufactured by Fore Point (one of the factories from Fortrex), but LS-450 and the new version of LS-550 (marked as “LS-550 (New)” on their website, being the model we are reviewing today) are manufactured by Enhance. The old LS-550 and LS-680 are manufactured by Fore Point with the same design as models from MX series. According to BFG they will move all models from MX and LS to Enhance in the future, and when this happens units will be either released with new wattages (e.g., LS-700 instead of LS-680) or will have the name “New” added to their name.

All cables use a nylon protection and all come from inside the power supply housing, as you can see in Figure 2. The included cables are:

Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector.

ATX12V/EPS12V cable with two ATX12V connectors that together form one EPS12V connector.

One auxiliary power cable for video cards with one six-pin video card power connector and one six/eight-pin video card power connector.

Two SATA power cables with three SATA power connectors each.

One peripheral power cable with three standard peripheral power plugs and one floppy disk drive power connector.

One peripheral power cable with three standard peripheral power plugs.

The only difference between LS-450 and LS-550 (New) here is the presence of a second video card power cable attached to the only cable available. Of course having these connectors on separated cables is better.

All cables have 20 ½” (52 cm) between the power supply housing and the first connector on the cable, and on cables with more than one connector there is 5 ½” (140 mm) between connectors. All wires are 18 AWG, which is the correct gauge to be used.

This unit presents a satisfactory number of connectors for an entry-level or mainstream PC with only one video card installed.

Gabriel Torres is a Brazilian best-selling ICT expert, with 24 books published. He started his online career in 1996, when he launched Clube do Hardware, which is one of the oldest and largest websites about technology in Brazil. He created Hardware Secrets in 1999 to expand his knowledge outside his home country.